GT X FMA - Cheating the Scales
by SockdrawerQuail
Summary: One quiet evening, Lynne and Sissel find themselves dragged out of their world by a mysterious core and into the fascinating land of Amestris. Their only hope of finding any way home is to help the Elric brothers thwart a military conspiracy. Bonds are formed and tested, and with every Fate Change that Sissel makes, the broken Equivalent Exchange laws begin to shatter the gate...
1. Chapter 1 - Through the Gate

**Ghost Trick X Fullmetal Alchemist - Cheating the Scales of Equivalent Exchange**

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**Chapter 1 ~ Falling Through the Gates**

Hey, everyone. This is my first work on this account, and I really thank you all for taking the time to read this! Many thanks to my awesome beta-reader Beagle (Ed-mun) for helping me get this off the ground and onto the website. I cannot thank her enough.

~This is a story that takes place after the events of Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, and some time after the Brotherhood episode "Envoy from the East"~

Rain from a late night storm poured upon the panes of the windows, warm light from a lamp lit the living room in a relaxing tone. Detective Lynne sat on the plush leather seat, catching up on her mystery novel, as Kamila played with her kitten, Sissel, on the ground.

After the events of the one tragic night where the future had been changed in the favor of many, Lynne had taken it upon herself to babysit Kamila for Detective Jowd whenever he and his wife Alma were on vacation.

So as the minutes ticked by on the old grandfather clock near the table, Sissel couldn't help but become aware of an eerie presence in the room. However, being stuck as a kitten due to the fragment of Temsik stuck in his body, the furs standing up on her back were not visible to Kamila as she stood up and left the room to find another toy for Sissel.

Dropping the catnip mouse he held in his mouth, he looked over at Lynne and mewled, catching the redhead's attention.

"What's wrong, Sissel? Kamila abandon you?" she laughed, but paused when she saw the rather serious look the cat was giving her. Setting her novel aside, she stepped over to the cat and kneeled down to him, resting a hand on his back.

Sissel closed his eyes and jumped into the Ghost World, a similar view of the world where he, a ghost possessing the shell of a cat, could move freely to possess and manipulate smaller animals and objects of many kinds.

When the events of That One Night had been reversed to a more fortunate present, Lynne had forgotten the friendship she forged with the cat. However, she regained her memory a month ago when she was unlucky enough to fall victim to being poisoned by a wanted felon. But Sissel was right nearby to use his unique ability of Ghost Tricks.

Not only could be manipulate animals and objects, he could also travel four minutes into the past to try and prevent a person from dying by reaching out to the core they gained once they lost their lives. The only exception to this was that that person could only have been dead for under 24 hours. After that, they will be unable to be saved. If the person was saved, they will have a yellow core if you were able to contact their spirit during the process.

So, as Sissel entered the realm, he reached out with his paw to Lynne's core that appeared over her heart and entered conversation with his friend.

"Lynne, I'm hoping that I'm just having and iffy cat moment, but I can sense this disturbing charge in the air, almost like it has gone stiff," Sissel mewed to his friend, his amber eyes darting around him in the swirling red reality of Ghost World conversation.

"Well, if you really feel like that, then take a look around the room with your Ghost Tricks. I'll watch your body and make sure nothing happens to it," Lynne smiled.

Feeling slightly better, Sissel backed out of his conversation and jumped back to his body, looking for any sign of a strange phenomenon that would make one's skin crawl.

As Sissel glanced around the room, the foreboding charge in the air grew stronger, even with the Ghost World's pause on time. He could not tell where it was coming from, being unable to see any tell-tale sign of trouble. Leaping back into the present, the small kitten looked back at Lynne and shook his head.

"Nothing, huh? I bet you're just feeling some sort of draft," Lynne said, trying to comfort him. "I'll make sure there are no windows open."

Walking out of the room to inspect the windows, Sissel's lied back and he rolled his eyes. "Wind doesn't feel like talons gripping your back, Detective."

However, he would try and force this thought into his mind as he jumped onto the warm seat Lynne had been sitting in and decided to try and rest.

Sissel had assumed that the Detective would try and stop him, but a light, pulling feeling at his body whetted his senses as he immediately sat up and stared around the room.

Despite the fact that the appearance of the room hadn't changed in the slightest, Sissel still felt the hairs on his pack prickling.

Closing his eyes, Sissel leapt into the Ghost World and looked around again. This time, rather than the familiar cores in all of their spaces, there was a large white spot on the floor. As he stared at it, he felt a peculiar tugging at his soul. Sissel forced himself back into reality and ran to go get Lynne, staying as far away from where he knew the white core was.

Lynne had just entered the living room when the black kitten slammed into her legs, causing her to tumble further into the room, right over where Sissel knew the large white core to be.

"Ack!", the redhead yelped, attempting to not step on her friend's tail. "Crashing into me isn't the best way to get my attention."

Sissel felt his heart racing as he looked into the Ghost World. Lynne's figure was standing right over the sucking white light. But she didn't appear to be affected in any way by it. The black kitten still felt the nauseating pull from it, though.

"I wonder... what would happen if I were to try and possess that core," Sissel suddenly thought, his eyes entranced by the white and his curiosity eating at him.

Without stopping to ask Lynne what she thought, Sissel reached his paw out on impulse and touched the light.

Suddenly, he was forced back into the real world where that section of the ground opened up, revealing a grotesque gray eye. Serpentine black arms reached out from around it, wrapping themselves around Sissel and dragging him towards the pupil of the eye.

Sissel opened his mouth to let out a wail, and stared over at Lynne, horrified to see that she too was being grappled by the snaking limbs. There were few times when the cat had ever been so scared, and the extent of his scary experiences were with actual people, not an army of black hands grappling his being

"W-what is that!" Lynne yelled, unable to free herself from the web and was pulled towards the eye on the floor.

As the two were yanked over the eye, they appeared to dissolve and fall into the pupil. Sissel felt his feet slowly dissolving into nothing and the numbness crept up his legs to his belly.

Kamila ran into the room and stared from the doorway as they were consumed, her eyes huge with fear. "Lynne!" she yelled, stepping forward.

"No! Don't! You might be swallowed as well!" Lynne called, causing Kamila to freeze like a statue. "I'll be okay, but stay out of the room!"

While Lynne yelled her heart out to the girl, Sissel felt his body disappearing. _What is going on? Cores never work like this! This isn't a core at all!_ his mind screamed. Normal cores would allow him to manipulate the object they were attached to, or talk to the creature attached to** it**. This one opened up into the massive eye as soon as he touched it, something he had never expected out of a ball of light.

As hard as he tried, he couldn't re-enter the Ghost World. Sissel's last look at the world was seeing tears roll down Kamila's cheek as he was quickly enveloped in darkness and a feeling of falling down wrapped around him…


	2. Chapter 2 - Many Ways In the Dark

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**Ghost Trick X Fullmetal Alchemist - Cheating the Scales**

**Chapter 2 ~ Many Ways In The Dark**

**About time, huh? It's been forever since I've updated! I'm happy that you're all excited to see what happens next. Second of all, I'd like to point out my mistake. Rather then this being after "Envoy from the East", this takes place a while after "The Sacred Star of Milos". So, I hope that clears some stuff up. So now, please enjoy chapter two! Also, you have Rireetheviridian to thank for this chapter. :,D**

_Wham!_

Sissel felt himself slam onto a hard floor, followed by the sound of Lynne doing the same. Peeking open his amber eyes, he stared into the dark until he was able to make out Lynne's shape, on her side and groaning.

"Ouuuughh", Lynne moaned. "My insides feel like they've been put through the wash." Clutching her stomach, she carefully made her way to her with the aide of a wall.

Sissel brushed against her leg to let her know he was with her, but that mostly made her jump and hit her head against something above her.

"Ow! I just buried my barrette into my scalp...", Lynne growled, raising a hand to apply pressure to the area around her elaborate hairdo.

Looking into the Ghost World, Sissel took a look around the area they had been trapped in. It was a tiny space, stocked with mops, brooms, chemicals, and other various items. Since this alternate way of viewing the world froze time and gave a better view than of what can be seen in an otherwise poorly lit room, he had no problems making everything out

'This would appear to be a broom closet', Sissel deduced. 'That might explain why it's so cramped and dark. Not particularly an issue for me, but now's not the time to sit around in the dark.'

Sissel jumped over to the door knob and, switching back into reality, unlocked it. He repeated the process vise-versa to get back to his body and nudge the Detective to the door.

After groping around in the dark for a while, Lynne eventually got her hand around the doorknob and opened the door, allowing light to pour into the space. Wasting no time at all, Sissel bolted out right after Lynne, but went sliding across the floor into the wall almost immediately. His soft kitten paws were never the best for gripping linoleum.

The Detective stared around. Rather than the warmly lit living room they just been in, they were standing in a dim, white hallway. Large windows allowed light from a half-moon to flow down and show off the shine of the well-polished floor. Similarly, the moonlight caught dewdrops on a rather grand courtyard.

"How did we get here? We fell through the floor, right?", Lynne mused, approaching the window and staring out. "Also, this is the second floor of a building. Detective Jowd's home is only one floor..."

Sissel gave an exasperated sigh, even though he was a ghost and technically had no need to inhale or exhale, and clambered up to the window to look out over the courtyard. At an angle, Sissel could see a a huge main building. Down the top layer of it was a massive green banner with a large insignia of a vicious animal. A lion, or perhaps a dragon?

"This is a really stately place, huh, Sissel? I'd call it a castle, but that's a bit extravagant", Lynne observed, staring out the window. Her face turned into a grimace as she suddenly looked down at Sissel. "What are we doing? We have to figure out what happened!"

Sissel was suddenly scooped up into the brazen detective's arms and carried down the hall. 'That's Lynne. Probably one of the most shameless human beings in any sort of world we're in', he thought smartly, staring down the hall in front of them.

It didn't take a detective's know-how to tell them they weren't supposed to be there, so Lynne made it clear that she'd get them out of there posthaste. Unfortunately, every door they found was locked. Sissel could guess that most of them didn't even go outside. After wandering around for some twenty minutes, Lynne slumped against the wall in thought. There weren't even windows to guide them, as Lynne had declared that they were to explore outside their comfort zone for better answers.

Sissel jumped into the Ghost World to talk to Lynne, who looked distraught when he reached her. Lynne was normally a very confident person, but she seemed to be really bothered by this.

'Well, it's my fault that we got sucked into this... whatever _this_ even is. I can't burden her with this. She doesn't deserve it...', the black kitten acknowledged, but Lynne suddenly glared at him and wagged her finger.

"Don't be such a downer", the detective scolded lightly. "Of course I'm bummed about this whole situation, but I'm sure that if we put our heads together, we'll figure thus out!"

Oops. Sissel managed to constantly forget that there were no secrets in the Ghost World, meaning he couldn't think without it being heard. But for once, he felt gracious to this. Lynne felt no grudge towards him, which was enough to get him through this for now.

"I just hope Kamila's alright", Lynne finished as Sissel left the Ghost World. In reality, Sissel wriggled out of Lynne's arms and hopped onto the floor. Now would have been a marvelous time for him to be able to smell. But alas, he had to make do with what he had.

And what he had, apparently, was luck. Not far from where they stood, a door opened and a man stepped out. Light from the room flowed out from behind him, obscuring their view of him. Right before he clicked off the light, Lynne spoke up.

"Ah, excuse me, sir!", Lynne called, approaching carefully. "I've gotten myself lost in here, and I wanted to know if you'd maybe help me...?"

The man stared over, hesitating to reply for a short while. Sissel began worrying that he would pull out a gun and nail Lynne in the gut, but he suddenly gave Lynne a friendly grin.

"Of course, madam!", he chirped, an almost childish tone appearing in his voice. "I'm obliged as the _fabulous_ state alchemist, Colonel Mustang, to help all of our civilians, as you know!" Taking a moment to orient himself, the broad-shouldered man marched his way down the hall, humming something to himself.

Lynne just smiled uneasily as she followed the man down the hall. Sissel was right on her heels, jumping and climbing up her trench coat to her shoulder.

"I think he's drunk...", Lynne whispered to the cat, trying not to sound too worried. It's a bit difficult to not worry in a situation like this, though.

Sissel gave a simple nod of acknowledgment. 'He doesn't seem like he'll pull something funny in this state, though. We'll just get him to take us to the exit, and we'll be on our way.'

As they were led down the halls, the humming of the blue-suited Colonel echoed in the darkness.

"_Ohh, snap, snap, spark, spark..._"


	3. Chapter 3 -Serendipity?

**Ghost Trick X Fullmetal Alchemist - Cheating the Scales**

**Chapter 3 ~ Serendipity?**

No matter what, you should not follow a man you don't know down a hallway. Especially if it's in the middle of the night. And you should most certainly _never _do it if you have no idea where you are and most of the doors are locked.

These were general principles to keep yourself safe, and Sissel knew these nearly verbatim to what Alma would say to Kamila, save for one or two exaggerations. And despite these being simple things that all kids should know, Lynne, who was a capable adult, was breaking all of them.

Sissel knew full well that they did need help, but he'd rather not get it from and intoxicated military man. As they walked behind him, Sissel tuned himself in to the Colonel's ramblings of top-secret investigations and something called alchemy. He thought it best to label most of it as nonsense, but he couldn't help but be curious about some of it. What was alchemy?

Looking up at Lynne, he knew exactly what her half-polite smile and half-concerned grimace gave away, and Sissel assumed that there wasn't much point in talking to her.

They walked down the corridor for a long time. So long that Sissel was beginning to think they'd be stuck there all night with the Colonel, when a door opened not far down the hallway, releasing a gust of cold air as a man struggled to close it, slowly entering the room.

Lynne froze in her steps as the Colonel continued forward, lifting his arm and waving goofily at the wind-blown man.

"Heeey, it's General Toyooooon! Hiiii, siiir!" Mustang slurred, laughing and walking into him.

Lynne inwardly groaned. Out of all the people the so-called Colonel had to bump into, he had to bump into a _General_, who was going to almost certainly blow his top at the drunkard. Lynne was not prepared to be another victim of his wrath. She raised her hand to cover Sissel's face, and another to cover her own. Since they couldn't cover their ears, they may as well cover their eyes, right?

But rather than a roar of rage escaping the lanky man, a hardy cackle rang out through the halls, causing Lynne to lower her hands and stare over at the two military men as the General playfully held Mustang in a headlock and ran a fist through his dark hair.

"Mustang, my man! Are you boozin' on the job again? Bwah! Just like you to do when you've got too much paperwork!" The General rumbled, releasing Mustang and watching him drop onto the ground.

Lynne watched, dumbfounded, as both men laughed uproariously, the louder of which was coming from the Colonel in spite of himself. Or, at least, it sounded like laughing. It could have also been him groaning from being noogied and dropped on his face.

Lynne put on her best of winning smiles and came closer to the two, her hands tucked behind her back.

"Excuse me, Mister General. You ju-"

Before Lynne could finish, she was alarmed by a sudden surprised stare from the General. A stare from nearly inhuman-like yellow eyes that sent a chill down her spine.

Sissel fluffed himself out and expected him to lunge, but was surprised once again by hardy chuckling as the slender General stepped over Mustang and shook Lynne's hand. That is to say, he crushed her hand without mercy and flung it up and down.

"Well, it's nice to see such a pretty, youthful, and smiling face in here for once! You're so much more pleasant than the grumbling subordinates I have to listen to! I'm General L. Toyon, and _what_ can I do for a lady like you?", Toyon rambled happily, completely oblivious to the perfect picture of pain on Lynne's 'youthful, smiling' face.

Resulting to yanking her hand free to keep it from breaking, Lynne put on another fake smile and drew out her words slowly and painfully.

"_Do_ you... think that _maybe_ you could _show_ us to the... _exit_?" She choked out, massaging her throbbing hand.

'Poor Lynne. She practically stabbed herself in the head with her barrette and now she's had her hand broken by a laughing maniac', thought Sissel, unable to keep his smug kitten's face from seeming amused.

The General let out another hearty laugh and gestured to the door he just came in through. "Right through there, Miss. Be careful, though! It's reeeeally gusty! Bwa-hah!"

Stuffing her stinging hand into one of the pockets of her yellow trench coat, Lynne managed another forced smile, a "thank you", and made her way to the door.

"Hey, wait a sec,"called Toyon, making Lynne once again freeze in her tracks. "What's your name, ma'am?"

Sissel glanced back at the yellow-eyed man, who was standing as he was with a polite smile on his face. The black kitten didn't doubt that this man was certainly friendly, as was the drunken Colonel eating floor polish where he lay. But he was a smart enough cat to know that a name was enough, and nothing else should be said.

Lynne hesitated until she saw Sissel's small nod of approval from where he sat on her shoulder. "My name's Lynne, and I am really grateful for what you two have done for me. General. Colonel," Lynne driveled, making for the door posthaste when she finished, flinging it open and forcing herself into the gusty night.

That left General Toyon and Colonel Mustang alone in the dark. As Mustang tried with every amount of his intoxicated being to sit up, Toyon chuckled and stared down at him. "What a nice lady, that Lynne. A _very_ interesting one too. Where'd you find a shining star like that, Mustang?"

General Toyon hadn't been exaggerating about it being a blustery night. Lynne had had a problematic time making it across the courtyard without having Sissel fall off of her shoulder. She eventually resulted to just holding him tightly in her arms as she made her way down a massive staircase.

The Colonel had said a lot in his ramblings, maybe a lot more than Lynne should have heard. But some of it turned out quite useful, as she knew that she had to take this massive mash-up of huge elevator platforms and countless flights of stairs.

"No free rides here, cat", Lynne grunted, plopping the black kitten down onto the ground before she began descending.

Sissel followed along right behind her. He debated just dropping limp and falling down the stairs to get to the bottom sooner, seeing as he wouldn't feel it anyway, but he had his morals of not potentially scaring the life from anyone's body. Trust him, a time rewind wasn't exactly what he felt like right now.

After the seemingly endless staircase reached the ground, Lynne hunched over to catch her breath while Sissel merely sat down next to her and fixed the fur on his paws.

Lynne glared down at him. "You little jerk", Lynne muttered, stifling a laugh. "Let's go."

As the two wandered down the sidewalk, Lynne noticed the strange designs of architecture. It reminded her of her grade school lessons of the Industrial Revolution, and couldn't happen to think of a place she knew of near where she lived that was quite like this. They were definitely not in Calfornia anymore. Lynne doubted they were still even in the country.

Brazen as Lynne was, she was especially worried about where they were going to sleep. Wandering around in the dead of night was always suspicious to anyone, and seeing as this seemed to be a very heavy military-based town, she didn't want to be seen by any more soldiers.

"Sissel", whispered Lynne, crouching down and looking the cat in the face. "Let's find a park or something to hide in. We'll sort this out in the-". Lynne yawned impressively. "...Sorry. But that's exactly it. I'm tired, and it'll be easier for me to think in the morning."

Flattening his ears, Sissel was bothered as to how she could think of relaxing at a time like this. But, he might be overestimating her. They _had_ just been through a lot, and while he never got tired, Lynne did.

Straightening his ears and finally nodding, the black kitten raced over to a storm drain pipe and grappled his way to the top to get a better view of this strange city.

While he was just looking for a place to rest, he couldn't help but be fascinated by what the moonlight illuminated. Much of the city was a ghostly white color that seemed to glow fantastically under the bright moon. Not only that, but it was all huge! Especially the massive fortress place they just left. It was the centerpiece of it all.

Fantastic views or not, that still didn't change the fact that they were lost. And with that in mind, the massive city seemed almost like a labyrinth, and they were trapped right in the middle of it.

"Sissel! What do you see up there?" Called Lynne from where she stood below on the ground. Her call jolted Sissel from his thoughts as he almost lost his grip. He hissed back down at her as if to tell her to be quiet, which she did, but put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot.

Sighing, he glanced back over the city and caught glimpse of a stretch of green. It seemed to be a small park, kind of like the ones that were back home. It seemed good enough, and was only a few blocks away.

Not even bothering to slide back down, Sissel jumped from the pipe and dropped onto a trash can, causing a huge clang of metal and for the can to fall over and loose its innards. Oops.

Lynne winced at this display and narrowed her eyes. "Aren't you a cat? Why can't you be graceful?!" She hissed, pulling the black kitten out of the trash.

Sissel, now covered in grease and filth, rolled his amber eyes and entered to Ghost World to tell Lynne what he had seen.

"I found a park", he said bluntly, twitching his ear. "Will you stop yelling at me now?"

Seeing Sissel's frustrated expression-or, as frustrated as a kitten could look, Lynne guessed-made her rethink her words and regain her composure.

"Sorry, Sissel. But you did just pull a kamikaze on that poor trashcan", the detective joked apologetically. 'If he doesn't know what a kamikaze is, I'll lose my motivation to be slightly funny', Lynne added, forgetting her thoughts could be heard in the Ghost World.

However, rather than taking umbrage at the detective's thoughts, Sissel appreciated her attempt to apologize for yelling. Even if he _didn't_ know what a kamikaze was.

Seeing the cat's face lighten as a sign of forgiveness, Lynne clapped her hands and smiled. "Well, thanks for finding a park, at least! How far away does it look?"

Sissel paused to recall the distance. "Six blocks, I think. You think you can drag your weary old bones that far?", he teased.

Lynne crossed her arms again and gave him a playful sneer, signaling for Sissel to jump back into reality, where he was held in the arms on the detective. Wiggling free, he jumped down and gestured with his tail for her to follow him, which she did, and the two continued off into the night.

Eventually, after wandering about in this strange city, Lynne and Sissel came across the entrance to the lush park Sissel had led them to. Lynne felt it was a refreshing splash of color after they had been surrounded by mostly gray buildings for quite some time.

Lynne's usual energy began to noticeably decline until the two finally settled down under a tree. At that point, she simply yanked off her trench coat, curled up onto the grass, and draped the bright yellow fabric over herself.

Both were quiet for a moment, until Lynne mumbled something, sat up, and began to fiddle with her hair. Sissel remembered that it would probably be difficult for her to sleep with such an elaborate crown of hair on her head. As she fussed to undo it, she glanced over at Sissel, who was watching her intently.

"Hey, Sissel. You won't mind keeping watch while I sleep... will you?", Lynne asked quietly.

Sissel shook his head. Being a ghost inhabiting his old shell of a cat, he required no sleep or nourishment of any kind. He felt no pain at all. His soul retained his memory and emotions, but his body was nothing but a vessel to him now. Sometimes, this was handy, like when he had fallen into a storm drain and couldn't drown. But other times, he wished he could feel the warmth of a fire or the comfort of being stroked.

Lynne patted Sissel on the head and smiled. "Thanks. We'll sort this all out in the morning. I promise", she murmured, her hair finally free from it's tall array and draping over her shoulders. Lynne fell back onto the grass and pulled up her coat to cover her as best it could.

Sissel settled into the grass near Lynne's back and rested his head on the ground, ready for a long night of guard duty. But, as he stared out across the park, thoughts stirred in the back of his mind.

"Where are we? Why were we brought here? Was it by my own error, or was it something else?", the black cat mused, his tail twitching. "And what about those men we met in the hall? That drunken Colonel ran his mouth to an exceptional degree, and the General... that General seemed almost _unnaturally_ happy. Who are they...?

"You know, Sissel", giggled Lynne suddenly, drawing Sissel from his pondering mind. "General Toyon kinda looks like Inspector Cabanela."

The sudden thought of the white-coated Inspector wearing a dark blue shirt left them both stifling laughter as the stars of this strange world shimmered over them...

Sounds of bushes rustling and trees whispering drove Sissel from his thoughts once again. Hours had passed since he had bothered to look at the sky, so when he noticed the stillness of the red dawn creeping over the tops of the buildings, he felt, for a moment, at peace. But that was before he noticed that there was no wind, meaning that there shouldn't be foliage making noise unless something was in them.

Scrambling to his paws, and nearly tripping over his red bandanna, Sissel fluffed out his fur to try and intimidate whatever was coming from the bushes. He hadn't been expecting anyone to follow them, but whatever was in there was getting closer.

However, rather than a person coming out of the bushes, it was just a cat. Sissel huffed out an irritated sigh and settled back into the grass, watching the newcomer stare him down. Suddenly, with a flick of its ginger and white tail, it darted away.

"Well, at least it was just a cat this time, despite it nearly giving me a heart-attack", Sissel thought bitterly, licking the fur on his sides back down.

Just as he had finished cleaning his fur, which still probably stank of trash, he heard yet another noise from the same bush. Sissel disregarded those, as they were all probably squirrels or birds waking up.

Next to him, Lynne slept soundly. She hadn't moved from where she had laid down last night, and quiet snoring escaped her lips. Sissel hesitated to say he was impressed, but was surprised that she could sleep so soundly outside on the grass.

Deciding to wait patiently, Sissel propped himself up and decided to take a walk. The sky grew brighter and brighter as the red faded into a yellow hue, and the birds began to chatter overhead.

Streaking over to a paved path, Sissel glanced up and down for a sign of people. Not too far off, four men strode down the path, speaking loudly. Despite the fact that they looked like regular civilians, something seemed off about them. It was probably only six o' clock, and the birds were only just starting to chirp.

"It's a little too early for a stroll in the park", Sissel observed, creeping closer and closer to them on his belly.

Right within earshot, the man at the head of the four stopped and pointed out to the bushes. "Doesn't she fit the description?", he asked quietly to his accompanying party.

As one pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket, Sissel stared over at where the man pointed and shockingly realized that Lynne could be seen from the path. That was what they were pointing at! What were these men going to do?

Without hesitation, Sissel darted back across the tall grass over to Lynne and began to mewl into her ear, trying to stir her before the men could get closer. Lynne didn't respond at all until he prodded her nose with his paw, causing her to raise her arm and swat him away.

"Sissel... goway.. 's too early", slurred the disheveled detective, obviously unaware that she was being watched.

Sissel stared back, wide-eyed, at the path and saw that the men had left it and were headed their way. In a last-ditch effort, Sissel pounced onto Lynne's leg and pricked the skin with his claws.

That definitely sparked a reaction. Lynne yelped and kicked Sissel off, who rolled into the bushes. While he couldn't feel any pain, he definitely felt the pressure from being kicked in the side.

"What the heck was that for?", Lynne hissed through clenched teeth, clutching her thigh. "You could have just asked me to wake up!"

Sissel glared at her and flicked his tail urgently towards the approaching men, only to find that they were suddenly mere feet away from them.

The tallest one, who towered over his companions and cast a shadow over Lynne's head, smiled in a slightly demented manner. A manner both Lynne and Sissel were immediately suspicious of.

"Excuse us, miss. We don't mean to step in on your... conversation", he began smartly, glaring over at Sissel on his final word. "But we have information that tells us that you were able to infiltrate Central Command Headquarters and make it out without a hitch. Is this or is this not true?"

Lynne blinked slowly. Assuming that this place he was talking about was the massive building they were in last night, then this was true.

"If you mean to ask if I was in a huge white castle place last night, then yes. Although, I wasn't 'infiltrating' any place. I was passed out, and I woke up there."

Sissel clenched his teeth. Did she say too much?

His fears were confirmed when the towering man smiled intimidatingly once more. "Then yes, you are the woman we're looking for. Please come with us... we have a _lot_ of questions for you..."

Making no time to idle, Lynne stood herself up quickly and sprinted past them, Sissel right on her heels. She wasn't about to be held prisoner in a place where she probably had no authority, even as a detective.

But at the first sign of Lynne's resistance, the tall man grabbed hold of her arm and threw her to the ground, knocking the wind from her as she landed with a thud on her back. The redhead struggled on the ground, gasping for air.

Sissel let out a vicious war-cry after seeing his friend being thrown onto the ground. Like a black bullet, Sissel lunged at the shoulder of Lynne's assailant and bit down as hard as possible. He had to stall these guys long enough for Lynne to catch her breath, and hoped with all of his being that he and Lynne wouldn't be stopped here

Howling with pain, the tall man grabbed Sissel's bandanna and tore him off, throwing the tiny cat onto the ground in a move that might break the spine of any other animal his size. The black kitten managed to draw plenty of blood and took with him a section of his jacket. Standing his ground, Sissel spat out the cloth and yowled menacingly from where he was thrown onto the grass.

"I'll teach you, you little bastard!", hollered the tall man, pulling a hidden gun from his belt. He trembled from the pain in his shoulder, but was able to rattle Sissel with six shots. When the barrel was empty, the towering man and his companions stared back in horror at the black kitten.

All six shots had hit him. Two in the back, one in the paw, one through the ear, and three right in the face. He had hardly wavered, and stood stubbornly where he had before he was riddled with holes. Suddenly, from the indentations covering his body, a faint blue sparks fell to the ground as Sissel's body regenerated and pushed the bullets out. Small thuds were heard as four bullets dropped into the grass, and left the mysterious animal without a scar.

"Temsik fragment, oh how I love thee", Sissel thought smartly as the men recoiled and the one who shot him dropped his gun.

"What just happened!?"

"It healed itself? That's impossible!"

"A monster! That cat's a monster!"


	4. Chapter 4 - The 'Soft' Armor

**Ghost Trick X Fullmetal Alchemist – Cheating the Scales**

**Chapter 4 ~ The 'Soft' Armor**

The word "monster" echoed in Sissel's ears. Something he had never been called before, and the harshness of the word rang in his eardrums until he felt something being smashed against the back of his head. He was flung forward and slammed into a tree, headfirst. He could tell that his neck broke and the back of his head was bashed in, but the bright blue lights of the Temsik fragment shined through the wounds, healing them once again.

Escaping from his daydreaming world and back into the reality of the situation, he glanced up right as one of the men swung a branch at his head. Sissel quickly jumped back and watched the branch swing in front of his face and clip his whiskers.

The man with the branch prepared to swing at the black cat again, but his feet were kicked out from under him by Lynne, who athletically jumped to her feet and made a mad dash for Sissel while he lost his breath.

Sissel was yanked off of his feet by the red scarf around his neck and held tightly in Lynne's arms as she ran off through the park, just escaping the hands of one of the thugs.

The men with the shoulder wound and knocked out breath stayed behind, while the other two chased after Lynne as she ran to the edge of the park.

Approaching a tall fence, Lynne grabbed the cold iron bars and hauled herself up the tall fence. Sissel had grabbed on tightly to the lapel of the detective's yellow coat and glanced back behind them. The two were gaining on them fast, but Lynne was faster, as she got to the top of the fence and-

*_RIII-IIIIIP!*_

Lynne gasped loudly as her trenchcoat caught fast on a bar of the fence and was swiftly ripped from her shoulders. Sissel lost his grip and dropped onto the ground, landing squarely on his paws. He looked back up at the torn jacket as it fluttered sadly but was then still.

While she took a second to glance sadly at her ruined jacket, Lynne knew she couldn't take the time to stare at the ridiculously colored material. Mourning her fashion would have to wait. She snatched up Sissel from the ground again and kept running, as the men in pursuit of them went all the way around the fence, presumably unable to climb the tall barrier and further discouraged by Lynne's attempt.

As the rising sun cast an orange glow over the white-washed town, the shadows of Lynne and the thugs were cast across the ground. It would have actually been very pretty if they weren't being chased around.

Using her 'Detective's Instincts', Lynne was able to navigate around using her perception of the scenery. She passed through a marketplace, where the shopkeepers had only begun to open their shops to the public. Several people stared through their windows at the strange woman and cat being chased about.

Lynne nearly tripped over a rock on the ground, and grabbed a nearby fruit cart to steady herself. The detective glared back at the men, and a smirk formed on her lips. Lynne grabbed the rim of the cart and tipped it over, scattering the apples inside of it across the ground.

Sissel looked back again as Lynne continued to run, and saw the men trip and stumble over the colorful fruit. The shopowner came out and began screaming at the men, as he assumed that they were the ones who tipped the cart.

The redhaired detective ran until she came to an alley, where she hid beside a large pile of trash bags to catch her breath. She slumped down into the dank and smelly darkness to catch her breath. Kind of a bad idea, now that she thought about it. With every other breath she took, she almost coughed it back out because of the smell.

Sissel jumped down from Lynne's shoulder and stalked around the trash, his black pelt disguising him against the bags. He remembered that he still probably smelled bad from landing in the trash last night and wondered if he'd ever find time to wash himself.

Neither of them saw either of the men and let out stiffened sighs of relief. Although, Sissel's wasn't exactly necessary. After all, he didn't really need to breathe.

"What... what was _that_ all about?", Lynne gasped between breaths, holding her chest. She rubbed her arms and remembered that she had lost her vibrant jacket to the fence. "They ruined my favorite coat!"

Sissel glanced back at her and entered the Ghost World. The vibrant red colors made him feel a little better, as they were a familiar sight in comparison to everything else around him. He looked around at all the cores, and made a small note of what was around him. A destroyed bike, a piece of wood that supported a rickety balcony, a leather wallet, and an assortment of random pieces of trash. Nothing particularly helpful or interest- wait. A wallet?

Jumping back into the real world, he strode over to the wallet and looked intensely at it. Maybe there was some information in here that could help them. Any information was good information at this point. The black kitten picked up the wallet in his mouth and let out a muffled mew to catch his friend's attention.

"What's that?", Lynne inquired as Sissel brought over the wallet. She reached out a hand and Sissel dropped the leathery pouch into it. "I might be a police officer, but I don't think I can do anything about _this_ lost wallet."

Sissel, tail twitching, pawed at the wallet again and meowed. "Open it" the cat urged. "This might be able to help us."

While she couldn't really understand what he was saying, she did get that he wanted her to look inside of it. Lynne pried the wallet open and looked at it quietly. Her lips moved as she mouthed what she saw and her expression became more unsure with every silent word.

Sissel jumped into the Ghost World and reached out to Lynne's core, where she stood with a puzzled look on her face. "What's wrong?", he asked, with only the smallest amount of worry showing in his voice.

"The wallet doesn't have much in it. It's just some unfamiliar currency and a note with some really rushed handwriting. Looks like whoever wrote it was in a hurry", the detective reported, disappointed.

Sissel was about to open his mouth to ask her if there was anything legible, but she seemed to already know he was going to ask that. "I could make out some stuff that said 'if you find this please give it to me at blah blah blah address'. The address, of course, I couldn't read, but I could get the owner's name. It looked like 'Alphonso Eric'", Lynne told him, glancing up in thought.

'_Alphonso Eric? I'm no expert, but that's not your normal, everyday name..._', Sissel mused. Lynne interrupted his thoughts with a statement about how names are all unique, but Sissel just shrugged and moved on.

"So, you said you also found some money in there? How much?", he interrupted, receiving another unsure look from the woman.

"I've never seen this kind of money before. It says it's called 'sens', and there's about four-thousand worth of them in the wallet."

"Woah, you're kidding me, right? _Four__ thousand_?", Sissel asked, stupefied. "Nobody walks around with _that_ kind of money in their pockets! No wonder this thing is on the ground. There's so much money in here, it probably burned a hole through this man's pocket!"

Lynne laughed and shook her head. "I don't think that value translates to dollars, Sissel. See, in different countries, there are different values in money. Like, in India there are rupees, and in Japan, there's yen. So say, if this guy had four-thousand _yen_, that would be worth about... fifty dollars of American money. This kind of money might translate like that", she explained.

Sissel didn't really get it, and stared back at her in confusion. "Sometimes I wonder how people work.", he meowed. "Why don't you all just use one kind of currency?"

"I think a sudden announcement that said 'everyone in the world has to use the same currency now' would cause a couple social and political problems", Lynne remarked, but then sighed in disappointment. "So much for this being able to help us. It tells us basically what we already know..."

There was silence between the two of them for a moment before Sissel spoke up, this time with an idea. "How about I take a look around? I can try and find out if we lost track of those guys who were chasing us, and maybe find something that could help us."

Lynne crossed her arms across her chest and looked at him doubtfully. "It _would _be a better idea for you to be out there rather than me, since you're less suspicious-looking, but what could you possibly find?"

"You never know", the kitten replied, attempting a comforting smile.

With that, Sissel jumped out Ghost World and back into the real one. He stepped out from the shadow of a trash bag and into the alley, glancing side to side for any sign of trouble. Seeing none, he began walking down the concrete and kept his eyes and ears open for danger. If he were to be run over by a car, if this world even had cars, he wouldn't suffer any damage, but it would definitely draw attention to himself if he were to escape unharmed.

Rounding a corner, the black cat came to another street. Some of the buildings were turning on lights and there were a couple of people setting up stands, so he assumed that this was a continuation of the marketplace that they had run through earlier. Maybe a good place to find information.

Right as Sissel was about to check it out, he heard a gentle voice from behind him. He glanced around and almost jumped into a barrel out of fright. Not far from where he was standing, a man in a suit of armor was crouched to the ground, his hand extended to him. From what Sissel knew, that armor was probably very heavy, and the person inside had to be strong in order to maneuver around inside of it.

The strange thing was that the voice emanating from the armor was very young and kind sounding, a bit like how a boy were to speak.

"Heeere, kitty", the armor beckoned. "C'mere, lil' guy. It's okay, I won't hurt you!"

Sissel seriously doubted that. He did have the intuition of a man but he was still just a cat, and his instincts told him that big, teeter-y things equal bad. But strangely, he felt some sort of pull towards the armor. It was a familiar pull, not physical but... _spiritual_! What was that all about...?

Of course! It was the same feeling from when he was back at home, before he and Lynne were pulled through the giant eye. But, why did this armored man have that same pull that a giant eye had? This required explanation, and this was probably this important information that Lynne doubted he'd find.

Sissel carefully walked towards the huge man's hand, which was almost bigger than he was. He sniffed this metal hand, not yet touching it, and felt a chill. He already knew that this was weird, since he hardly ever could feel anything.

The black cat was about to reach out and touch his nose to the armor, but felt a huge blow of pressure in the side of his head that made him fly sideways. Two feelings in a row, he was on a ghostly roll today. He heard a shocked gasp from the armored man and several people nearby, along with the sound of the bones in his head cracking.

Sissel hardly had time to react before he noticed the thugs from earlier. One was wielding the gun that had just sent a bullet through his face, who proceeded to point it at the armored man. The other man ran forward and grabbed Sissel by the legs and held him far away from his body, knowing the damage this cat did to his partner's shoulder.

"What... why the heck did you did that?!", the armored man screamed, standing up suddenly from where he was kneeling. "What kind of person shoots an innocent little..."

The man trailed off as he noticed blue lights and sparks emanate from Sissel's skull as the wound healed itself. With his jaw fixed, he began craning his neck upwards to struggle and try to bite his way free. But his captor glared down and began shaking the kitten violently, leaving him flailing and unable to grab anything with his teeth.

"I think you just saw why I shot the 'innocent little cat'", the man with the gun finished for the the silvery armor, then turning to address the other shocked people there. "Stay back, shut up, and don't say a word to anyone about what you've seen. Otherwise, I'll blow your brains out too!"

As Sissel began looking around for an object that might have a core, he noticed the man with the gun turned back and be face-to-chest with the massive armor man. A shadow was cast over him as the armor sized him down, pounding a balled fist into a flattened hand.

"Mister, I don't like it when people threaten to hurt other people. So maybe if you put the gun and the cat down, we won't have to fight", the now eerie voice of the armored man resonated.

"D-d-d-don't you t-tell me what to do!", the armed man screamed, holding up his gun right to the armor's horned head. As he was about to pull the trigger, the armor raised a hand and swiftly knocked the gun from his hands. Immediately after, the armor clapped it's hands together and slapped them onto the ground, causing a bright circle to flare up and surround both men.

Sissel noticed the grip of his captor loosen out of shock and managed to struggle free, leaping out the the circle of light right as a dozen bars shot up from the ground to form a big-cage formation around the two thugs, who stared incredulously at their sudden prison.

'That was... I wasn't expecting that', Sissel thought, his eyes huge at he touched one of the bars, validating it's existence.

"There. Now you two can think about what you've done until the police get here", the armored man stated, satisfied as the two caged men fell to their knees in dismay. The horned head of the armor then turned to look down at Sissel, who glanced back shortly thereafter.

People who had witnessed the scene began to applaud and cheer for the armored man, and several came over to shake his hand.

"That was a real piece of work!", a woman holding a child exclaimed happily. "I wouldn't expect any less from a famous Elric Brother!"

"Oh my, yes! That's the famous alchemist!"

"The Fullmetal Alchemist, what an honor!"

"Edward Elric!"

Embarassed, the armored man raised his hands to try and calm the crowd. "I'm happy to help, but you've got the wrong guy. I'm just the brother of the Fullmetal Alchemist, _Alphonse _Elric!"

Sissel had been listening to the cheery crowd when the armored man said his name. Alphonse... Elric...

"Oh", Sissel meowed, amazed. "I guess that _could_ kind of look like... Alphonso Eric..." Sissel stared back up at the armor and wore a stunned expression. "Maybe he wrote that note in the armor. That could explain why it looked so sloppy."

The black cat let out a loud 'mrrowww' to catch Alphonse's attention. Once he had it, Sissel turned tail and ran back down the alleyway from where he came, waving his tail to beckon the large man.

"Oh! Ah, you're welcome, everyone! I've... gotta go now!", he called to the crowd, waving and then turning to lumber after Sissel, who was now patiently sitting at the far end the alley. The people in the early marketplace dispersed, sending farewells to Alphonse as he disappeared into the alley.

Once he had caught up with Sissel, the huge armor stooped back down onto one knee and stared hard at the black animal, who was rather puny in comparison. The stare the two shared was mystical, in a way, with the red soul-fire eyes in the helmet boring into the glossy amber ones of the cat.

"I saw that little trick of yours back there, kitty. The little light show in your head", Alphonse's hollow voice stated to Sissel, whose ear twitched and head nodded. "Would you perhaps be able to tell me how you did that? I know it might sound silly to ask _you _for help, but I have my reasons, and you seem awfully sought-after to be a regular black cat."

Even after Alphonse spoke, Sissel pondered what exactly to do at this point. This was a bit of a pickle. This guy _had _just helped him out of a huge mess, but how exactly was he, a ghost in the shell of a practically immortal cat, supposed to return the favor?

When the silence between the two resumed, Alphonse let out an echoing sigh. "I don't know why I'm saying this, but I'll tell you what", he announced, pointing a finger at little Sissel. "I'll count me saving you back there as a freebie. Let's say we're even. So, at this point, I want you to do something for me, and I'll be willing to do something for you in return. Get it? Its equivalent exchange, a rule I've tried to live my whole life by."

After a brief pause and a bit more staring, Sissel meowed knowingly. He wasn't sure how he would explain all of this himself, so he might as well take Alphonse back to meet Lynne. With another swish of his tail, Sissel got up and scurried back down the alleyway to lead this armor-clad fellow over to Lynne.


End file.
